Fighters Only spoke to Wanderlei Silva last night about his painful decision to pull out of his UFC 116 bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama. "The Axe Murderer" revealed that he had torn ligaments in his knee a few weeks ago, but said he was planning to fight with the injured joint anyway. He says that the combination of his knee injury and a trio of broken ribs he sustained while training on Friday made it impossible to continue his camp, let alone fight in a week and a half.

“I tried training more upper body and boxing; I kept losing weight and I was gonna fight no matter what. Last Friday, during sparring, I injured my rib. It was very painful and the next day I had an x-ray and an MRI. I discovered I had three broken ribs.

“After years of fighting, my body made me stop this time. I am here to tell you that I cannot fight on this card. I am very sad because I trained for four months. This is a very difficult time for me. Now, I know that I need to have surgery on my knee. I have no option." . Explaining the series of unfortunate events that led to him bowing out of the heavily-anticipated bout, Wanderlei further demonstrated the never give up warrior spirit that has endeared him to so many fans from back in his days as a dominant PRIDE champion through to his three years in the UFC Octagon.

"I am here to talk about my last few days. I went through a very tense and difficult weekend and had a very hard decision. Two weeks ago I felt pain in my knee while I was training wrestling. I had an MRI of my knee and three doctors told me my knee was torn. I took medicine to help with the pain, and although my knee felt loose, I said "no," this date is very important to me and I continued training. I tried training more upper body and boxing; I kept losing weight and I was gonna fight no matter what. Last Friday, during sparring, I injured my rib. It was very painful and the next day I had an x-ray and an MRI. I discovered I had three broken ribs."

“You cannot imagine how much I wanted to fight on this card. It was my birthday, I had friends and family from Brazil and around the world coming to see me and now I cannot fight. I am not the kind of fighter who fights just for the money and I will prove to you now – I could have entered the Octagon, received one punch, and said, ‘That’s it, I have broken ribs.’ But I fight to give you a big show. When I fight I always give one hundred percent and I fight to show everybody real MMA and to help the sport grow and to excite my fans."

Although obviously disappointed, Silva remains optimistic that he will be able to quickly bounce back from the setback.

“I am going to work hard to return. I know my God is with me and He is going to bless me one more time. I am praying a lot and I know that God is going to bless the surgeon. I am going to be one hundred percent and will fight many more years.”

Apologizing for letting down his fans, although his injury was outside of his control, he asked that his supporters keep him in their thoughts and prayers and that they remember all of the stumbling blocks he has overcome in his life and storied MMA career.

“I apologize to all my fans. I ask for your prayers for a successful surgery and healthy body. I will be back in shape to fight again and to give you more excitement. A big hug for all of you and be with God. My fans know that my life was tough since the beginning. I want to ask for your strength and support one more time. This is a very, very, very hard moment for me. This is my livelihood, my job and I already put in a lot of time and effort into this fight. This was a fight I really, really desired."

Lastly, Wand gave kudos to Akiyama, who will now face Chris Leben in his stead, expressing his desire to reschedule their meeting for after his injuries have healed.

“This is the reason I cannot compete on this card. I apologize to my opponent. I have had opponents cancel fights. I hope they find you another opponent. I hope that I can fight with you in the future. You are an amazing fighter."

Fighters Only has set up an email account for fans to send well-wishes and personal messages to Silva. If you would like to send one of your own, you can do so at getwellwand@gmail.com.

Cagepotato Comments

Showing 1-25 of comments

@hail to wand, I was at the expo as well. We were told we were in a line for Wand when we got up there it was Dan Hardy... anyway myself and a few other fans called out to him and he made sure that he came over and gave us a few pics and autographs. He is the best.

Pow right in the kisser- June 24, 2010 at 9:53 am

I feel like I have a 33.6 modem hooked up to my laptop.

Clinch-Smash- June 24, 2010 at 1:59 am

I second that rlh61.

War Wandy and get well soon!

rlh61- June 23, 2010 at 10:49 pm

This is why I love CP...the nation can take an article about a well-respected fighter, maintain that respect, and still have one funny fuckin' comments section.

fatbellyfrank- June 23, 2010 at 10:40 pm

^^^^^^ Fucken Gold gentlemen, Once again the nation makes us all proud

fatbellyfrank- June 23, 2010 at 7:07 pm

@ Hail to Wand, Its great to read this sort of thing, when so many fighters are starting to come across as self centred douchebags, to hear first hand stuff like this about fighters just being good guys and talking to their fans it restores your faith.
Sounds like you and your Wife had great day out, I'm jealous!!!!!
Oh and welcome to CP, the nation rulez OK!!

High Left Kick- June 23, 2010 at 1:15 pm

Valerie Smells like maple syrup.

High Left Kick- June 23, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Valerie Smells.

cecils_pupils- June 23, 2010 at 12:47 pm

+1 and lol @ rlh61... well done homie!

Viva Hate- June 23, 2010 at 12:45 pm

@Dick_Misanthropenis,
Next time find one with a glass eye, they will take it out and let you skull fuck them for $13.27, much better deal, plus there is no funnier thing then watching the clean up.

Dick_Misanthropenis- June 23, 2010 at 12:41 pm

@joe sons balls - be careful when uploading comments and downloading porn at the same time... that's how my Ipod got genital warts.'

Yeah that's how I got chlamydia. That and I was downloading porn while a filthy crack whore gave me a $40 hummer (she said it would've been $50 for the gummer. I let her keep her teeth in).

Pissed this fight isn't going down. Hopefully Leben fights smart and turns it into a good scrap. I would switch ribs with Da Axe Moiderer for a week just to watch him fight.

ReX13- June 23, 2010 at 12:34 pm

^Thread reaching capacity for AWESOME.^

Agree with C-Bus about the Wanderlei shirt. I'd buy it.

El Famous Burrito- June 23, 2010 at 12:30 pm

@rhl61

LOL.

Like tossing a memory stick down a floppy disk drive.

rlh61- June 23, 2010 at 12:14 pm

Oh, you should see what happened to my computer after the whole Jenna/Tito thing...the monitor is now twice the size of a normal monitor, yet the thing is only a little smarter than the paperweight next to it. It also smells funny and keeps oozing some nasty discharge of some sort. It's also got a cheap-ass Walgreens brace/wrap thingy on it's mouse. I'm not sure what's going on...but if it doesn't straighten out, I'm going to slap it around.

justscrappin- June 23, 2010 at 11:03 am

Yeah...I broke one of my lowest ribs during a grappling tournament..but didn't even know until an hour after I was done competeting. He definitely would have been finished within like 1 minute if Sexyama poured on any sort of offense.

joe sons balls- June 23, 2010 at 10:59 am

'@joe sons balls - be careful when uploading comments and downloading porn at the same time... that's how my Ipod got genital warts.'

i hear you man, my laptop got staph from that pic of hammills back.

Old_Bald_and_Irish- June 23, 2010 at 10:56 am

I've broken my ribs....twice....and I can attest to the fact that with broken ribs, EVERYTHING HURTS!

Coughing, sneezing, laughing, breathing, sleeping and moving.

Wand's a warrior for wanting to fight with torn ligaments, but he made the right decision with the ribs.

...mmmmm....ribs!

SiDeBuRnZ- June 23, 2010 at 10:53 am

If GSP had balls like Wandy, he really COULD hit someone with his groin. Maybe score a KO.

justscrappin- June 23, 2010 at 10:51 am

My Ipod got genital warts...cuz I rubbed my genital warts on it...weird. In other news...I wasn't a Wandy fan originally. He seemed like a bully...the rotating wrist thing the stare and trying to intimidate his opponents. Then they had him fighting smaller guys..and he looked like he was on roids in Pride. Then I saw the IVC stuff where he was headbutting a guy with the side of his head that was cut. Then I heard how much he loved his fans..and how important it was for him to give them an amazing show everytime he fought. Now I got mad love and respect for Wandy.

2DaDeath- June 23, 2010 at 10:34 am

Take your time healing, Wanderlei. There's like 5,000 highlight videos of you that we can watch in the meantime.

cecils_pupils- June 23, 2010 at 10:27 am

@joe sons balls - be careful when uploading comments and downloading porn at the same time... that's how my Ipod got genital warts.

ccman- June 23, 2010 at 10:21 am

Who is this wanderlai fellow? Never heard of em.

joe sons balls- June 23, 2010 at 10:05 am

'I just saw the picture caption for this article, and I couldn't agree more. '

it should be a shirt.

C-Bus Allstar- June 23, 2010 at 10:01 am

I just saw the picture caption for this article, and I couldn't agree more.

WAR WANDERLEI!

J Akuma- June 23, 2010 at 10:00 am

So, MMA has one Silva who just doesn't care enough about the sport to fight his best, and one who's killing himself to get into a fight at about 50%?

That would have been a great scrap, too. Get better Wand.

C-Bus Allstar- June 23, 2010 at 9:59 am

Wandy is 180 pounds of pure class.

Hope you get well soon Axe Murderer.

ktfo- June 23, 2010 at 9:58 am

word is that Chris Leben is stepping up to fight. if this is true.....warrior.

joe sons balls- June 23, 2010 at 9:58 am

i was downloading porn when i first posted, maybe thats what caused the problem.

SnakeJake- June 23, 2010 at 9:57 am

I didn't like Wand in Pride, but he has made me a fan. I saw this thing on YouTube where he wouldn't stop signing autographs for the fans even after some bitch told him he had to call it a day.

Hope ya get well Wand.

Almost North- June 23, 2010 at 9:56 am

Not your fault man, CP is hosted on an Amiga which is also being used to download porn.

Viva Hate- June 23, 2010 at 9:54 am

I was really looking forward to this fight, it sucks that it is off, I always enjoy a chance to watch Wanderlei fight. He always puts on a show, can't wait until he is back!

joe sons balls- June 23, 2010 at 9:51 am

i had brilliance in my first 3 posts but it never saved so you all lose. at least i didnt say 'first'.

joe sons balls- June 23, 2010 at 9:50 am

when trying to comment, does CP slow down to 1992 internet speed for everyone else like it does me? also, ive hit 'save' 4 times and it never saved so this is my last effort.